Natural Light Photography, by Aviva Rand: January at Natural Light Photography

Thank G-d, its been a wonderfully photogenic beginning of 2010! I had so many cute faces in the studio this month, pudgy babies, gorgeous families, adorable and cooperative three year olds... and I was finally able to get to Tzvi's 2 year old portraits. (More about that later).

Thank you to all of you who helped me become one of the finalists in Oh Baby's Photo Contest on Facebook. Out of 123 photos, we came in second place. Five photographers progress to Round 2, which decides the winning photographer. Here's the link to vote for me:

http://www.facebook.com/l/f3783;www.ohbabygifts.com/photocontest

Its very easy and you don't have to be a Facebook member. Thank you - I appreciate all of you who are making this effort for me. And if I win, and you voted, I have a special package waiting for you on your next order. :)

A note for those of you who are booking sessions in February... why not bring in your Purim costumes and have special Mishloach Manos tags made up for you? I did this last year and they were a big hit.

I'm going to get right to the photos now, we have quite a few.

I haven't had a baby like this in a while... Cute, pudgy, loved the camera... the poor mother had to choose between over 100 adorable photos! It was my idea to take off the outfit she came in and do most of the shoot in this onesie and hat.

From January

Sheale came in next for his upsherin photos. He did a beautiful job. There's something about this first photo that reminds me of old Europe. I don't know what it is, the solemness, his expression... can't really say. But its one of my favorites. Mom took this photo in color and blew up a large, magnificent wall portrait.

From January

We did some fun poses too, showcasing his sweet, fun personality.

From January

Mazal Tov Frieds! You should have only nachas from this zees little boy!

Then came another upsherin boy...Menachem. He wasn't afraid of the camera at all.. in fact, he taught me a thing or two about posing..

Oh, and I love his hat.

From January

Just have to stop here and comment on how much I love this photo (below).

From January

This is baby brother Aryeh, 8 months old. Don't you love those eyes?

From January

After two kids' sessions, noone wanted to leave, so we changed Menachem back into his "fun" clothes and got this adorable sequence.

From January

This family was the lucky winners of my Bonei Olam prize last year. (Note - I will be again donating a large prize at this year's event, so be sure to come and participate!) Avrohom just celebrated his upsherin.

From January

Little bro Yosef was so conked out from all his head holding, that...

From January

And here's another family... coming to me all the way from Passaic. Matis, Dovid, and Chaya were pros and we had a blast. I always love doing black on black.

From January

These two brothers are just adorable.

From January

So finally, Tzvi. I know I'm a few months late for his 2 year old birthday portraits...mostly because I was dreading them... to be honest! Like, his mother's a photographer so she HAS to take portraits of him as he turns two, but delicious as he is, Tzvi has not been the model subject. His past portrait sessions have been... challenging, so I kept looking for excuses to push this one off. Finally, one morning it was it. No ear infection, no runny nose, no excuse. Even his hair looked good.

And what do you know? He was a little angel! I couldn't believe it, but then again, I could, cuz that's what Tzvi's all about... the unexpected. This is the same little boy who Friday night climbed on top of my dining room table and plunged his little hand right into the candle's flame to find out if Aish is REALLY fire and is it REALLY hot? Well, now he knows.

(He's fine, by the way). Anyway, here are my favs... sorry if there's so many, but it is my baby...

Happy Birthday Baby Tzvi!